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Parks Department: If you think the Common is a pig sty, don't blame us - blame the slobs who infest it

A huffy citizen complains how messy Boston Common and Public Garden pathways are these days and demands the city assign at least two workers full time to keep it clean, and, hey, maybe buy one of those mini street-sweepers while you're at it. Oh, and make sure the mayor sees this complaint.

Somebody at the Parks Department huffs right back (spelling mistakes fixed):

Common is cleaned not only in the morning but all through out the day. If you are really concerned about the common then go after the people who litter and grafffti the common not the people who work hard in keeping common clean. Parks dept in common only work from 7am till 330 pm.

They no longer have mounted police units and the Rangers are almost non existent.
Last week a crazy man was dumping garbage, screaming and terrifying people for an hour at Park Street and the Ranger phone line was an answering machine and the cops never came.

The bigger problem is DRUGS. There is drug activity all over the Common and it is dangerous.

My social worker friend has a long list of clients who want treatment but can't get in because facilities are full. Some of them get themselves arrested on purpose because there is a chance they'll get fast tracked into one of the good centers. Unfortunately, if the center is full at the moment, they get stuck in "treatment" at a correctional facility (ie, they get warehoused for a month then dumped back on the street)

My uncle, a Vietnam Vet, had to wait years to finally get into a decent facility.

I'm sure you're right to an extent and I don't want to paint them all with a broad brush but being a person who is outside as a vendor every single day in Downtown and on the Common I have to tell you that these people who are out there and doing drugs every day aren't behaving as if they wished they could move to the front of the line and get help.

I wish I could lose a few pounds but until I can afford weight watchers I am not going to spend my days at Richardsons wolfing down maple walnut sundaes.

And I know that is totally insensitive and that drug addiction is nothing like what I just said but you know what?

I'm outside and surrounded by addicts all day long trying to run a business and I am not going to give a pass to behavior like:

Peeing in the middle of the path in front of children

Attempting to steal everything that isn't nailed down

Scaring tourists and families away by cursing, fighting and trying to get money from them

Sleeping on the ground right on the Freedom Trail

Being completely out of control and dangerous in a public space all day every day

I hear it's a disease and maybe it is but people with Cancer don't try to rob me and assault innocents while being unruly and scary.

They sure don't seem like they are just waiting around for "help" to arrive.

Let them wait in a jail cell. These are not nice people in an unfortunate situation. They are criminals breaking the law. Every day.

is mor entertening. I cant bileeve te city has illiterate employeees assined to communkate with the publick.

status: Closed. Case Resolved. Common is cleaned not only un the mirning but all through out the day .if u r realky concerned about the cimmon then go after the peoole who litter and grafffti the common not the people who work hard in keeping commin clean.parks dept un common inly work frim 7am till 330 pm.

As somebody who occasionally posts things here via my phone, I'm always amazed to see the stupid mistakes that show up - even after I look at what I write before I hit send. There's something about that small screen that makes me particularly blind to typos, and I figured, man, that must go double for whoever responded to that complaint.

Common transposition errors are one thing but If you can type all that and still think that it's okay to submit "cimmin" SEVERAL times, then you need to be fired for lack of work ethic. It shows an absolute complete lack of care for your job.

Like I said in another citizensconnect post, there are many young recent grads and current students that are hyped about social media and marketing who would be perfect for this job, either as an intern or full time. It's a city position, so that offers young people the advantage of city employment, networking with various branches and an education in how the various aspects of our civic government operate. Fire these idiots who couldn't give a damn about their job communicating with citizens and hire those who need a head start.

This hits on a pet peeve of mine. Never have I lived in a city full of people with such flagrant disregard for crapping up their own surroundings with their garbage. I have to say, it's turned me into one of those self-righteous assholes who, when I see someone just flagrantly throw their garbage on the ground, picks it up and hands it back to them saying, "You dropped this."

or in the last 6 years particularly, things've changed. Don't want to turn into one of those people who say "It wasn't like this when I was a kid" but it wasn't like this not too long ago, even. Tourist areas seem to be the worst. Something's gone wrong......

Before deposits were required there were cans & bottles just tossed everywhere (and as a result much more broken glass around). I remember when it went into effect and you saw the results pretty quickly. Of course plenty of people still bitched about it but I think it's been a great success and would love to see it expanded to include water & juice bottles.

I'm not the only one... Picked a wrapper up off of the carpeted floor of the South Shore Plaza, and explained to the offender the concept of trash receptacle, one of which was less than 4 feet away from her. Didn't even phase the woman.

Smokers flicking their ciggie butts into the fountains is beyond rude. It's a fountain, not an ashtray. Can't dispose of your own trash yet as a full grown adult? I guess your mommy wipes your ass still too.

If we're going to discuss the dropping of messy items, can we talk about lottery tickets? If the Mass lottery would only source a compostable paper on which to print them my front bushes would be living la vida loca. Perhaps the city and state DEP could join together to provide compost bins exclusively for Quick Pik and Globe Direct?

Hah, they think the common is bad - they should see my neighborhood park in Roxbury. I think it's cleaned once a week, and the day after it's trashed again. I've tried to pick up some trash when I'm in it, but it's a futile effort for someone without a lot of time on their hands.

I think I see the fruits of this complaint already - the Parks department was out in full force this morning (Monday). The Common for the most part was very tidy, and the usual suspects who have been congregating on the benches and staying there all day seemed to have been given the brush. Given that there was very good weather this weekend for both Boston Pride and Father's Day, it is laudable that the Common looked in decent shape today.

Despite the typos, I can see why the Park Service may be defensive - they have to clean up a lot of areas around the city on a very limited operational budget, and for the most part it is a thankless job - most people don't appreciate the effort until something goes wrong. That said, I'm surprised that whoever administers Citizen's Connect would allow such an unprofessional response to be posted.

There's always going to be people who complain about litter in the parks, (and there are always going to be slobs who abuse the parks - unless litter laws are actually enforced), but you can't attack them for pointing out a shortcoming in city services. That's what the service is for, and that's what they pay taxes for. What this employee needs to do is make it clear to his supervisors that more time, money and resources are what they need to get the parks properly maintained.

In the meantime, the city would do well to keep any responses back to those who complain to a simple 'thank you for your concern, we will try to do better'.

Despite the typos, I can see why the Park Service may be defensive - they have to clean up a lot of areas around the city on a very limited operational budget,

Here is a potential response.

Citizen's connect is primarily for service requests; your complaint appears to be about staffing levels. The Parks Department budget is set by the City Council; if you feel that the Parks Department should be better funded, we wholeheartedly agree, and encourage you to take it up with your city councilor, whose contact information can be found here: (link).

lets all yell at the degenerates who litter and get assaulted and then we can point out that, in writing, we were told by a city worker to say something about the litter bugs to their face. what a terrible response! that person is now liable!

in my lifetime the behavior described has always been a problem on the common. But I remember as a child you weren't allowed to play on the grass in the public garden
s, we were told they were a botanical garden, not a park. I'm 40 years old. The problems in DTX have been a problem for more than a decade.

Here is what the Parks Dept. should have said. Thank You for your concern but we have 2 very hard working maintenance workers in the Common each day. We would like to assist them but the former Mayor has cut our staff by 100 workers. With all the social ills drawn to the Boston Common from the St. Francis House, Homeless vets, mental health centers, Pine St. Inn, Long Island shelter, and the myriad of other nonprofit social service agencies we are unable to keep up with the waste, filth and damage being done 24/7. We suggest that you advocate for the closing of all these shelters and advocate that ALL homeless individuals be offered 24/7 services out on long island that either houses them (24/7/365) or provides services for them to re-enter society as productive Americans. But, Hey Thanks for telling us what EVERYONE already knows.

The cops can't move vagrants and faux gang-bangers along anymore. If they do anything the cries and whines are no end and they dare not do anything at all. Give the cops the ability to tell drug addicts and trash bags to move their asses along and DTX will improve. They can all go hang out under the bridge where they belong and fight and feud where they have traditionally done whatever it is they do.

I complained to Ciddya Sumahville about how the public trash cans in Davis Square are disgusting, constantly overflowing, and have three years worth of ice-cream drippings built up on them. They replied, essentially, "You're wrong. We empty those cans every day."